Page 47 of No Safe Place
‘It’s going to be okay, Callum,’ the paramedic said, taking his left hand and holding it. ‘It’s going to be okay.’
Callum’s head swivelled to look at Riley. ‘He’s taking me away.’
Callum moved without warning, limbs waving, and Riley’s head snapped back as a fist caught him in the lip. Callum was screaming again, and the TSG was struggling to keep him pinned down.
‘Ten milligrams diazepam,’ the paramedic shouted over his shoulder, but his counterpart already had the syringe ready.
Riley pressed his sleeve to his lip, trying not to let blood drip onto the pavement as the needle pierced Callum’s neck.
‘We need to protect his head,’ the paramedic barked, taking over from Field.
Gradually, Callum calmed down, going glassy-eyed and rolling up into a ball.
Riley stood awkwardly by Field, nursing his face and not looking down at his piss-stained trousers. She forced her rage down, kept her face neutral.
A docile Callum was stretchered onto the ambulance, while the uniforms urged people to go back into their houses.
‘Think he’s faking it?’ Riley asked a passing paramedic.
The medic threw him a filthy look and didn’t answer.
Chapter 26
P:We are monsters, in our own right.
The people we get close to, the people we allow ourselves to love.
We hurt them.
We destroy them.
D:You’re not a monster, P—.
Pause
P:We destroy them, before they can destroy us.
Chapter 27
Thursday | Morning
Lily
Lily wanted to stay in bed, hiding from the hangover and her nausea under Scott’s Egyptian cotton sheets. The argument played on a loop inside her head, Cal telling her to move out. She had nowhere else to go – it was Scott’s or nowhere – but the thought of actually moving into this flat, being with him every day, made her feel profoundly lonely.
Scott had made her promise they’d do something nice with his day off, so she dragged herself into the shower.
Lily pressed her aching forehead against the tiled wall and let the water run down her back. The sickness was worse than yesterday – no surprise given how much she’d drunk last night.
It was a while before she realised the faint banging noise wasn’t in her own head.
She turned the water off.
‘Babe?’ Scott called, voice strained. ‘The police are here to see you.’
Lily stepped out of the shower, pulling a towel round her. The drop in temperature made her head swim, and she had to sit on the toilet.
Something has happened to Callum.
